PSYCHOLOGICAL METHODS 229
tude for repelling or diverting (we are not sure which)
"impingements from a lower plane."
Another teacher recommends abstinence from ani-
mal food, combined with .soul-training and mental
gymnastics. The mental gymnastics suggested are
politeness, fasting, and prayer.
A third teacher seems to be recommending some-
thing in the following paragraphs :
"There is a supreme moment, the leading up to which is as
quick as thought. It is the catching of this supreme moment
that constitutes control. The moment thought becomes
complete feeling is that in which complete thought may be
expressed. This moment, is that in which inspiration being
complete upon the plane of the thought, the expiration is led
off upon the same plane by the Intent. There is no miscarriage.
However apprehensive the speaker may have been up to this
point, the moment he feels this unity, he is henceforth strong.
" The stutterer should seek for, and duly recognize, this subtle
something that speaks of the task performed, before the thought
is attempted in expression. At a distance from him, out in the
outer atmosphere, he will be sensible of having projected a force
that not only will act as a fitting medium for unclogged utter-
ance, but which will insure him against attacks of fear, or acci-
dents from without, that might otherwise impede the trans-
mission of his thought, by turning his mind from an established
purpose."
So much, then, for the psychological accessories.
We shall now examine the major psychological
measures employed in the treatment of stammering.